Dr. Sumegha Asthana

Dr. Sumegha Asthana is the Head of the Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla Centre for Infectious Diseases and Pandemic Preparedness at the Indian Institute of Public Health Hyderabad. She is a physician and public health systems specialist with expertise in global health governance, pandemic preparedness, and health systems resilience.

Dr. Asthana has contributed to public health through collaborations with governments, multilateral agencies, academia, and civil society organizations. Her career includes significant roles at India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as well as consulting for the World Health Organization in India and the Eastern Mediterranean region. She co-founded and was the founding chair of the Women in Global Health India chapter. Her research and policy initiatives cover India, Africa, South Asia, and the Eastern Mediterranean, addressing topics such as pandemic governance, enhancing national public health institutes, promoting sustainable financing for preparedness efforts, and integrating disease surveillance metrics into health systems.

Before joining IIPH Hyderabad, she was affiliated with Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where she taught global health policy and infectious disease programs and led various health security projects. She has also held honorary teaching positions at Queen Mary University of London and the Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru. Her work has been published in leading international journals, including The Lancet Regional, BMJ Global Health, and Social Science & Medicine. She was named one of Apolitical’s 100 Most Influential Academics in Government in 2021.

Asthana holds a Master’s in Health Administration from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, a Ph.D. in Social Medicine from the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and completed a Postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University.